Religion in the Two Kingdoms
There are a wide range of spiritual practices, belief systems and philosophical schools ascribed to by different people across the Two Kingdoms. "Heaven Worship" So-called "Heaven Worship" is reverence for a non-personal divine spirit or energy identified with "Heaven" or "the heavens." This is the closest thing to a widely accepted or state sanctioned religion in the Two Kingdoms although Heaven there are many different conceptions of Heaven. For some Heaven is a distant authority (as in "the will of heaven") while for others it is an immanent force pervading the universe. For some Heaven represents the natural law which governs the world (following heaven means being true to one's own nature) and for others it is conceived of as a plurality of spirits (not unlike nature spirits of the spirits of the ancestors). Animism On a local level, many people believe in nature spirits associated with specific lakes or forests (for example). Often revering the spirit and avoiding its wrath is a matter of respecting nature but in some localities offerings and other ceremonies are performed in order to appease a nature spirit. This can be connected with "prayer" for favorable natural conditions such as rain or a good harvest or to ward off destructive floods or earthquakes. These may also be connected to human fertility rituals. Reverence for the spirits of the ancestors is also very common. In many places there are special occasions on which people build altars, perform sacrifices or give offerings to the ancestors. In general the ancestral spirits can be seen as offering protection or guidance. People may also be concerned with offending the spirits of the ancestors by failing to be virtuous. Spirit World Another aspect of popular folklore common across the two kingdoms is the idea of a spirit world which exists alongside the material plane. This is the realm of spirits of all kinds including exotic mythological creatures. The spirit world occasionally intersects with our own resulting in encounters and interaction between people and spirits: in general the spirits are indifferent to human beings and a spirit's presence may have a mysterious, negative or (less commonly) positive impact on the person or people involved. The spirits also have caprices which are hard for mortals to fathom and they might punish a person for a perceived offense. Temples and Manifestations of the Divine Normally connected with "Heaven Worship" some spiritual philosophers and their present-day followers focus on the idea of different aspects or manifestations of the singular divinity. These include * Divine Wisdom * The All Knowing * Divine Mercy * Divine Judgement * Divine Wrath * Divine Majesty * The Unknowable Well-Spring * The Omnipresent/Divine Immanence There is a temple dedicated to each of these Divine Aspects somewhere in the Two Kingdoms which attract or sustain a group of devotees. The monastery dedicated to the Unknowable Wellspring is located in southern Hu and it is built around an extinct caldera which is too deep to fathom. There is an ceremonial capital city (an extensive complex of temples and palaces) built by the Naja kings which is dedicated to Divine Majesty. Category:Culture